Dr. Ximo Mengual

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Research interests

My research focuses on the systematics and taxonomy of true flies (Diptera) with specific emphasis on the world-wide family Syrphidae, commonly known as Flower flies or Hoverflies. Syrphid species are very important pollinators and play a crucial ecological and economic role as recyclers of dead plant and animal matter, pests of ornamental plants, and biocontrol agents of plant pests. Flower flies have been also used as bio-indicators of environmental health, and to demonstrate the effects of climate change on pollinators.

Additionally, I am interested on the ecology and the larval feeding modes of flower flies to explore possible evolutionary scenarios for these extremely diverse flies. The phylogenetic relationships of this group of flies and their placement within Muscomorpha are two other main goals of my research.

I am also interested on the usefulness of the so-called DNA taxonomy and on biodiversity research related to Diptera. Phylogenetics and phylogenomics are also of my interest, and I am working with molecular techniques using Next-Generation Sequencing to develop baits for Anchored Hybrid Enrichment. Together with the zmb, we have recently sequenced several transcriptomes and one syrphid genome for further phylogenomic studies. Furthermore, I like also to discuss about theoretical problems and new methods in phylogenetic systematics and phylogenomics.

2018

Methods for delimiting species based on multi-gene nucleotide information are well established and provide the means to complement the classical COI barcoding approach, whose limitations are well known. Our research project aims at establishing a standardized set of single-copy nuclear-encoded markers for genome-wide multi-locus species delimitation by exploiting comparative genomic data and applying target DNA enrichment. Candidate markers are so-called Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (USCOs).

2016

The main objective of this project will be the study of the species of the family Syrphidae from New Caledonia. Entomological collections will be surveyed to complete the revision of the fauna of this country. I will especially focus on unidentified material in order to study their morphology and to report new species for this country and, ultimately, to find new species to science.

2015

The INDOBIOSYS project (financed by the BMBF through the Naturkundemuseum Berlin) deals with the integrative inventory of different animal groups at the Halimun-Salak Nationalpark on Java, Indonesia. A special focus lies on a fast inventory combining molecular and morphological data. The aim of the project is an inventory of the biodiversity of the park for the Indonesian state. Successively, pharmaceutical research for relevant substances in the animal taxa can then be conducted.The INDOBIOSYS Myriapoda part of the project will inventorize the millipedes.

Syrphidae, commonly called hover or flower flies, is one of the most diverse families of Diptera very attractive for citizen-scientists. Phylogenetic relationships among its main subfamilies and genera are still not totally understood; especially large genera such as Allobaccha Curran and Asarkina Macquart. This project aims to review both genera in order to describe the new species using new publishing tools, as well as to study their phylogenetic placement among other Syrphidae with the development of a workflow for Ultra-Conserved Elements or Anchored Hybrid Enrichment technique.

BIG4 is a global consortium to train a new generation of systematic entomologists with broad profiles amalgamating classical aspects of biosystematics with the cross-disciplinary methodological innovations. Evolution of insects from the four biggest orders (1. beetles; 2. bees, ants and wasps; 3. flies and mosquitoes; 4. moths and butterflies) is at the core of BIG4. These ‘big four’ insect groups constitute about half of all living species on Earth and have an enormous impact on natural or anthropogenic ecosystems, even when not visible as such by a layman.

This project will provide better knowledge of the biodiversity of flower flies that occur in the University Park of the UCLA (Lara, Venezuela). In addition, and the biological cycle of the predacious species of Syrphidae will be studied.

Flower flies are one of the most diverse families of true flies (Diptera). In this project, we will study the biodiversity of flower flies among different habitats in one of the species-richest areas on Earth, the South of Ecuador.

2011

"German Barcode of Life" ( GBOL ) is a project sponsored by the BMBF and includes the creation of inventories for the gentic characterization of the animals, fungi and plants of germany, using DNA-Barcodes.

Kazerani, F., Talebi, A.A., and Mengual, X. 2017. First record of Chrysotoxum baphyrum Walker from West Palaearctic (Diptera: Syrphidae), with key to species of Chrysotoxum Meigen from Iran. Bonn zoological Bulletin 66(2), 95–106.

2013 Mengual, X. The use of the secondary structure of 28S rRNA in Syrphidae phylogenetics - Neotropical taxa as an example. Seventh International Symposium on Syrphidae. Novosibirsk (Russia). [Oral Presentation]

2013 Mengual, X. The use of the secondary structure of 28S rRNA in Syrphidae phylogenetics. CNC, Ottawa (Canada). [Oral Presentation]

― Paula Rozo, MSc thesis: Diversity of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) in three ecosystems from the Colombian Andes: identification through DNA barcoding and adult morphology. University of Bonn - ZFMK. 2014.

Teaching experience

― Instructor of “Evolution, Diversity, and Biology of Arthropods” in the M.Sc. program “Organismic Biology, Evolutionary Biology and Paleaobiology” (OEP-Biology). University of Bonn, Germany, since 2013.

Appointments

2013-present Instructor of “Evolution, Diversity, and Biology of Arthropods” in the M.Sc. program “Organismic Biology, Evolutionary Biology and Paleaobiology” (OEP-Biology). University of Bonn, Germany.

2011-2012 Research Entomologist (Research Associate) of the Systematic Entomology Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, Unites States Department of Agriculture.

2011-2012 Rubenstein Fellow of the Encyclopedia of Life (www.eol.org) at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution.

2010-present Research collaborator of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution.

2009-2011 Postdoctoral Fellow (Schlinger Foundation) of the National Museum of Natural History (Department of Entomology), Smithsonian Institution.

2008-present Honorific collaborator of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resources, and the Institute of Biodiversity CIBIO at Univesity of Alicante.

2008-present Member of the Research group “Bionomy, Systematics and Applied Research of Diptera and Hymenoptera”, University of Alicante.